The purpose of the report is to:

1. To inform Cabinet of the outcome of the Department for Education (DfE) Review
2. To inform Cabinet of the outcome of the Herefordshire Safeguarding Children’s Board (HSCB) Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Diagnostic
3. To update Cabinet on the progress to date on the Ofsted Action Plan

THAT the following be noted:

(a)       outcome of the DfE review (as detailed at Appendix 1) conducted on 15 and 16 December 2014;

(b)         outcome of the HSCB LGA peer diagnostic (as detailed at Appendix 2) conducted between 17-19 November 2014; and

(c)         progress to date on the Ofsted action plan (as detailed at Appendix 3).

To enable Cabinet to consider whether there is adequate progress in improvements in safeguarding services, in the light of external reviews and monitoring of progress against the improvement plan.